Love Is Forever
by tomriddlejr
Summary: Did he really just say the 'L' word to describe how he felt about Hermione? His breath went shallow in response. Could he even be capable of loving another person?


**Disclaimer: **Anything you recognize belongs to J. K. Rowling and all the other people and blahblahblah.

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><p>Two teenage boys were standing on opposite sides of a stranded room. Both were alike in many ways. They both had found a home at the school they attended. They both were quick to anger; though one of those boys kept his emotions in check more often than not. They both had jet black hair and piercing eyes. However, they were also very different in many ways. One believed that he wanted power while the other one had full intentions of stopping him at any cost.<p>

Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. and Harry James Potter were mortal enemies, or that's what Harry liked to believe. The Tom standing before him wasn't the same Tom that he had been enemies with since his birth. No, the Tom standing before him was a teenage boy, just like Harry. And this Tom wasn't known as the Dark Lord. _"Yet,"_ Harry reminded himself.

"I'm not going to duel you, Potter," Tom stated, annoyance coating his silky voice.

"You won't duel me now? Yet, you were so quick to kill me when I was a mere baby when you're older. What happened? Did you get stupid with your old age?" Harry mocked, hoping to get a rise out of Tom. All he needed was for Tom to start the duel and then Hermione wouldn't get mad.

"I believe things have changed Mr. Potter, whether you believe them or not," replied the dark-haired teenager who was now examining his wand that he held between his slender fingers. Gryffindors were known for their reckless decision-making when they were mad and Riddle would not be surprised if Potter tried to hex him out of nowhere.

At the moment, another person entered the room and the conversation completely dead-panned as the two boys saw who it was. "Hermione," Tom sighed, like her entrance was a breath of fresh air.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry interrupted Riddle's attempt to go near the bushy-haired girl. "She's not here to see you," Harry spat before starting to move toward _his_ best friend.

"I'm here to see both of you, to tell you to stop being so childish and immature," Hermione explained with a huff. "There is really no need to fight," she continued.

"I was just explaining that to Mr. Potter here," Tom smirked, reaching Hermione before Harry had. He watched in horror as Riddle kissed his best friend on the cheek and he could feel his jaw tighten in anger.

"That's it, Riddle! She's not just some little play toy for you!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at Tom who had immediately brought his wand up for defense.

"_Sectumsempra!"_

The minute the spell left Harry's lips, Hermione felt like everything was going in slow motion. She knew that Tom had never heard of that spell. He wouldn't be able to block it in time because he wouldn't know what spell to use to block it. And the witch was fairly certain that Harry wouldn't give her the counter-curse if she was trying to save Tom Riddle of all people. She knew exactly what do within a second and she threw herself in front of Tom, taking the cutting curse head, or rather stomach, on.

Both Tom and Harry's mouths immediately hung wide open at what had just happened. Harry had just shot a Dark curse at his best friend who had jumped into it to save Tom. Tom watched as Hermione fell to the ground, dark blood spilling over her stomach. His own knees gave out as he too fell to the ground, instantly grabbing Hermione's hand.

"What did you do to her? Potter, what did you do?" Tom shouted at the young wizard who had shot the curse.

"I-I, I…" Harry couldn't seem to find his voice. He was too much in shock at what had just happened.

"Now is not the time for you to lose your stupid Gryffindor bravery! What did you do?" Riddle continued yelling, hoping common sense would enter the Gryffindor's brain.

"Th-the counter curse is _Vulnera Sanentur_," Potter muttered just loud enough for the other wizard to hear. Riddle glared at the boy before performing the counter-curse; three times to be exact as he found out you had to repeat it to get the best results. He was so busy attending to Hermione that he almost forgot the Boy-Who-Lived was still there. Almost.

"Her-Hermione, I'm so, so, so, so, sorry. I-I didn't mean to. I mean…" It was impossible for the boy to find the words that would truly convey how apologetic he was for cursing Hermione, especially with a Dark curse.

Tom Riddle muttered an _Ennervate_ under his breath and Hermione began to sit up, hissing between her teeth at the pain that was still in her stomach. Tom's eyes immediately found her's, trying to find something in them that would tell him she would be alright. "I knew that stupid book from sixth year was no good," she muttered in between deep-breaths as she continued to try to sit up.

Harry noticed that Tom's eyes weren't leaving Hermione and it was as if he actually cared about her well-being or something. As Tom helped the witch sit up, he kept a hand on her waist and allowed her to rest her side on his and that's when Harry's eyes caught Tom's and he saw something in them he never expected. He really did care.

"You shouldn't have jumped in front of that spell, 'Mione. It was meant for the future Dark Lord." Harry defended himself before continuing, "that could've been the Killing curse."

"Great! So then I would be God-knows-where questioning whether Tom was supposed to be Voldemort, or you!" the witch argued back. "We can't change the timeline purposely, Harry! We don't know what could happen if we did!"

Harry kept his eyes on Hermione who was still leaning into Riddle's side. He heard every single hiss she made as her stomach moved in and out with every breath. "Me changing the timeline? You're the one who's made Tom Riddle fall in love with you!"

Riddle's eyes immediately left Hermione's face and he looked at the boy in front of them. Did he really just say the 'L' word to describe how he felt about Hermione? His breath went shallow in response. Could he even be capable of loving another person? Even when his soul had already been split once? Tom wasn't sure of the logistics behind it but there had to be another word to describe why he enjoyed Granger's presence so much and why he felt an ache whenever he wasn't near her. Surely the word wasn't 'love', was it?

"H-he's not in l-love with m-me. Don't joke about that Harry," was Hermione's response as she brushed it off. Sure, there was a part of Hermione that loved the young wizard deeply and wanted him to feel the same but she wasn't sure if he could even feel love, could he?

"Potter, you should leave. Before I make sure you end up in a worse state than Hermione was earlier," Tom threatened, his face changing from a confused expression to a very serious, dark one.

Harry swallowed before getting up and made his way towards the exit.

Riddle went back to looking at Hermione to make sure she was fine. Except for the occasional hiss she made, she seemed rather okay now that the shock had warn off. "He's lucky I needed the counter curse," remarked Riddle which made the young witch smirk. "You wouldn't have cursed him in front of me, no matter what state I was in," she stated calmly. "Maybe a hex or two. Nothing serious," Tom humored her. Hermione just chuckled and added a 'mhm' in response.

The dark-haired wizard buried his face into the witch's hair before kissing the top of her head. "You know, that stupid Gryffindor was right about one thing though," Tom mumbled, contemplating whether he should state how he felt or not. "And what's that?"

_"Oh, what the hell? Why not?"_

"I do, in fact, love you," he stated, looking directly into Hermione's eyes. He didn't want to miss her reaction. He just bared his heart and soul, or what was left of it, and he needed to see her face. The girl's eyes immediately began tearing up, but this time it was from joy. "Tom, oh, Tom, I love you too," was her response as she slowly lifted her arms to pull the wizard in for a hug.

Harry couldn't watch anymore and he quietly pulled himself through the exit. The timeline was indeed being modified and there was no going back. Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. had changed.

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><p><strong>AN:** This drabble was actually inspired by a little graphic I made. If you would like to see it, you can see it here:

http:/ www . srsblck . tumblr . com (As of June 13, 2011, it's the first post. It's not hard to find.)

Uh, yeah. Anyway. I'm okay with what I've written but I'd like to know what you think so please drop a review or whatever.

- Macy


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